White Room
by Jimmy the Gothic Egg
Summary: [Response to a fic challenge.] Katara and Zuko stuck in a room. Alone. Interaction, yes, but without any of the pleasantries.
1. Chapter 1

This is my response to a fic challenge for katarazuko community on LJ. All my demented ways to stick Zuko and Katara together in the same room.

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_White Room_

Zuko admitted this had not been his smartest plan.

It had been simple enough. Cause a distraction for the earth-bender they'd been speaking with and grab the Avatar (after knocking him out, most likely. That boy was like a worm.) He'd get away before they'd manage to get themselves unstuck and he wouldn't have to deal with that annoying boomerang (that always managed to hit him) or the stupid water-bending girl.

But, no. The universe had other ideas.

Instead, he'd knocked out the earth-bender, causing an avalanche while he was battling the stupid water-bending girl, and now they were both stuck in a cavern, alone, with no light, and apparently no way out.

He hadn't even noticed her at first. He'd kind of hope the stupid rocks had crushed her. (She kept hitting him with that goddamn water-trick and it hurt like hell each time.)

Then again, the universe had decided it was not his lucky day, so of course he'd figured out she was there.

In _the worst_ possible way.

He'd lit a flame to see by, just as she reached out to touch the wall, and he caught her sleeve on fire. He cursed, so did she, and suddenly the room was raining, and they were both soaking wet.

He lit a flame a second time (making sure she was perfectly out of the way) and glanced at the pile of rocks that locked them in.

The stupid water-bending girl hadn't even bothered to yell or fight with him. She just sat down and glared.

"You are such an idiot."

He honestly had no right to disagree. It had been a stupid plan anyway. He was sinking to new lows.

He sat, but not beside her. He was smarter than that. Instead he played with the fire in his hands, bouncing it as if it were a plaything.

There was silence for a long time, before she finally broke it.

"How long until he wakes up?" she asked.

"Who?" He didn't mean to answer. He's bored anyway.

"The earth-bender. You knocked him out. How long until he wakes up?"

"I'm not a fortune teller." He tossed the ball of fire to his opposite hand. "Though you do seem to enjoy their company."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "What do you mean?"

He remembered when he used her necklace to track her. "You spent a lot of time at that fortune teller's."

She turned to him completely, a look of fear dawning. "How did you know that?"

He kind of wanted to scare her, just a little bit. He hated her anyway. She kept doing those stupid water-bending tricks. Stupid water-bender. How should he answer?

But she had already gone back to staring at the wall across from her. "So how has stalking me helped you with capturing Aang?"

The name didn't register for a minute, but he got it after a while. He was more furious that she called him a stalker. He _wasn't_ a pervert.

Stupid water-bender.

They sit in silence for some more.

---

A few minutes turned to an hour.

"You think Sokka or Aang would be trying something," she hissed, glaring at the rocks.

"Air-bending's useless against rocks. Wind has never moved mountains."

She glared at him this time. Ow. It actually hurt a little bit.

"And that stupid boomerang never did much good."

"It whacked your ugly face a few times," she muttered.

He doesn't have an answer to that.

---

An hour turns to two…

She gave a frustrated sigh and stood quickly.

"I hope you didn't kill him."

He stared at her, suddenly lost. "Who?"

"The goddamned earth-bender. Or did you already forget?"

Oh. Yeah. He hadn't been paying attention. "It shouldn't have killed him."

"You are such an idiot."

For a moment he considered burning her nice and crispy. But then it'd smell like smoke and dead and he'd always hated that smell.

She was standing over him now. He didn't look up.

"Fire takes up oxygen. For all we know we're completely cut off."

He still didn't look. "Then stop talking."

She shut up.

Finally.

----

After a while he figured the two idiots she traveled with should've been doing _something_ by then, at least for her sake. She'd been quiet for… Oh god he didn't even know how long they'd been there.

Stupid water-bender.

"Stop staring at me."

He blinked. "What?"

She glared. Was that all she ever did? No wonder they seemed to have abandoned her. "You're staring at me. Stop. You're creepy enough already."

"I wasn't staring at you. Why on earth would I?"

She doesn't have an answer and turns to glare at something else.

He wished she'd kept her mouth shut. Now he wanted to stare at her. Because now he figured out she looked kind of pretty in the firelight.

Kind of.

---

He hadn't moved at all in the hours they'd been there, but she'd made her rounds.

And she made them again.

"Stupid boys," she hissed. "They've got half a brain apart. That makes one altogether."

He kind of smirked. "Maybe they don't want you anymore."

She didn't even bother to turn to him and glare. "Maybe they hope you're in here on last breath, and they think I'm somewhere else."

"You talk too much."

"And you're too quiet."

"Stupid water-bender."

---

She was trying to rip out his throat when they finally moved the first rock. His knee was braced at her stomach and her arms were outstretched to grab his stupid face and rip it off. The fire had gone out, but they'd managed to grab each other in the dark and she was working on ripping his hair out, or maybe claw into his neck. He half-expected her to.

They got them both out and tried to capture him or something, but he got away before they really cared enough to try.

Zuko rubbed his head. He had a headache, probably from all her talking.

Stupid water-bender.


	2. Chapter 2

_White Room_

Katara opened her eyes.

It was instantly decided that it had been a bad idea.

Light burned her eyes. She closed them, then blinked them open again to adjust to the setting.

Should it be this light?

Oh, no. She was staring at fire.

This set alarm bells of in her head and she jumped back, careful not to touch the flame. Unfortunately, by throwing herself back like that, she ended up hitting something else.

And it felt more like a someone.

There was a cry of surprise and the sound of glass hitting rock. She turned, sure it was her attacker, and stopped.

"Damn it," muttered a far-too-familiar voice. "I liked you better when you were asleep."

She paled.

Zuko.

"What did you do to me?" she hissed. Because of course this was _his_ fault. He _was_ the bad guy after all.

He turned to face her, no sign of attack in his movements. He stared at her lazily, an eyebrow arched at her defensive stance.

"I assure you," he said, "I did nothing."

Oh, likely story. "Then why are we…" She glanced around, stopping mid-sentence.

"First of all, you haven't even noticed where we are. Second of all, _we_ are here. Obviously I would not be in the same room as you at any time, if I could help it."

At first the comment didn't reach her. She was too busy noticing that the room they were in was dark and damp. The only light was the fire she'd woken up beside. There were apparently no doors and no way out. But there seemed to be a stockpile of _something_, since barrels were stacked up against the walls.

"So…" She sat down, still staring at her surroundings. "Do you know where we are?"

"No," he answered. "But I do know what are in those barrels."

"Oh?"

He scooted aside to the barrel he'd already opened. Bottle stuck out, but what were they filled with?

"Wine," he answered her question without her needing to ask it. "Illegal wine, by the way."

"How can you tell?" She glanced at his feet, where an empty bottle rolled sadly. He had been drinking it?

"There's no alcohol allowed in this city."

"Oh. Are you… drunk?"

"Not yet," he answered, pulling out a bottle and inspected it carefully. With a tug it was open.

"Hey!" She grabbed it and pulled it away from him. "You can't drink that."

He rolled his eyes at her. Maybe he was already drunk. "And why not?"

"It's not yours." Go her. The girl who'd stolen from pirates berates a prince on manners.

"It's illegal wine, and not very good at that. I'm trapped in a room with an annoying Water Tribe peasant with not a hint nor explanation. I think I'm allowed something to drink."

"But…" She set the bottle down just as he pulled a new one from the barrel. Suddenly she looked up at him, eyes narrowed. "_Peasant_?"

"Yes, _peasant_. Do you need a definition?"

"No I think I'm quite well-schooled in the term. I'm still uncertain what you call a prince without a country."

He remained silent, merely taking a swig from the bottle.

The silence reigned for a full minute before Katara spoke again.

"Why are we down here again?"

"Because the gods have decided they don't hate me enough. They thought it might be funny to stick me in a room with you."

It was almost a joke, she thought. "At least they gave you something to drink."

"I guess I should be thankful for that. And your company is far better than some, I suppose."

She smiled. She had a suspicion he was complimenting her. The bottle at her side was still open, and she brought it to her lips.

Well, she thought, if I'm going to spend who knows how long with Zuko, then I think I deserve a drink too.

"Did you start the fire?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Did you have to put it to close to me?"

"I was hoping you'd smell the smoke and wake up."

Liar. He was probably hoping it would burn her hair off. "How did we get down here anyway?"

"I assume someone knocked you out and dragged you down here, robbing your person of anything of value." He closed his eyes, as if admitting defeat. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

She couldn't help but grin. "Is that-"

"Certainly not an attempt at decency. But you're sure to blame any injury on me. I don't think I can allow any more damage to my reputation."

"Psychotic prince with anger issues? I think that reputation is damaged enough."

He gave a sarcastic "har har."

"As long as we're checking damage," she sighed, "You're alright?"

"Why would I be anything but?"

There was a clatter from the corner of the room and she jumped. "What was that?"

"A rat."

Her eyes went wide. "…Rats? There are rats in this room?"

He raised a brow. "I saw some earlier. They're rats. I'd think you'd be more worried about our captors."

"People- men- I can handle. But rats…" She shuddered.

He shook his head. This was a strange girl indeed.

There was a scuttling noise. She inched closer to him. "You'd think the fire would scare them off."

He decided not to point out she had moved away from the fire, and rats had probably learned five feet from the flames would not kill them. This was proven a moment later when Katara felt something brush by her foot. With a screech she launched herself elsewhere, landing right on top of Zuko. It took her a minute to notice, mostly because in the process, she had grabbed his arm, and suddenly his sleeve and her hand were covered in red.

Zuko, who had not noticed this, was trying very hard not to blush. "I think you're on top of me," he said. Maybe he was drunk. He couldn't quite think straight.

Katara got off of him and yanked up his sleeve. "I thought you said you weren't hurt."

"No. I asked why I would be. There was no confession therein."

She reached to open her gourd, giving a sigh of relief. It had not been taken from her. She still had the means to heal.

If she could figure out how. She'd focused her water-bending on fighting, not healing. But it wasn't hard to levitate the water over the wound, letting it sink down so the skin began to grow over. Zuko watched in interest.

"I think that's good," she said, closing her flask. "Does it hurt at all?"

"It didn't hurt in the first place."

"Good."

And then, she punched his arm.

Oh, yes. He felt that.

"What the hell!" he shouted.

"Next time," she warned, "Tell me."

"Dammit that hurt!"

"Good!"

They sat apart from each other now. Zuko went back to drinking. Katara picked up her bottle, wondering if it made a good club.

They were running out of conversation. Katara thought, allowing herself another drink.

"So… Inbreeding?"

He choked on his wine. "What!"

She shrugged. "You know, to keep the blood pure and all."

He was still coughing.

"I mean, where else do you get a princess besides the daughter of the Fire Lord?"

If she didn't shut up he might cough his lung out. "What—What the hell are you talking about?"

"Well, I think some kings did it. I can't remember all their names. We haven't had a proper history lesson in a long time. But I figure _someone's_ gotta be doing that somewhere."

"What! No!" He threw her a look. "No! Maybe hicks in the middle of nowhere but no!"

She laughed. "I didn't think you'd take such offense to it."

He took a few more minutes to stop his hacking. She laughed again.

"How are we going to get out of here?" she asked. No, it wouldn't be that bad to team up with the boy (man?) she constantly fought. Just for this.

He shrugged, holding out another bottle of wine. "I figured this'll give us some ideas."

She eyed it another moment before taking it.

It was the best plan they had.

**

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Notes:**

I just stuck a bunch of random ideas in here. Thank **rashaka **for the inbreeding comment. And possibly the drunkenness. I just wanted to get them drunk.


End file.
